MTN Nigeria Communications Plc., held its fourth Annual General Meeting on April 18, 2023. The AGM approved a final dividend payment of N10.00 per 2 kobo ordinary shares (subject to necessary deduction of withholding tax) to shareholders whose names appear in the Company’s Register of Members by the close of business on March 27, 2023.

This brings the total dividend for the year ended December 31, 2022, to N15.60. The cash dividend will be paid to eligible shareholders on April 20, 2023.

In its annual report published March 17, 2023, the ICT company approved the proposal for a Scrip Dividend Election Plan, which gave interested shareholders the option to elect and receive new ordinary shares in the stead of dividend in cash. Prior to the meeting, qualifying shareholders who intended to make the election for shares obtained the Election Form from Coronation Registrars Limited.

The decision to incorporate the Scrip Dividend Election Plan will benefit the qualifying shareholders because those who elect to receive new ordinary shares will be able to increase the number of shares, they hold in the Company without incurring capital market-related transaction costs.

The Company announced, in correlation with the audited report published on March 17, 2023, total revenue of over N2 trillion, amounting to 22.3% growth in profit before tax.

“MTN Nigeria delivered a solid financial performance in 2022, supported by our strong commercial momentum. We experienced growth across all our revenue lines” said Dr Ernest Ndukwe (OFR), Chairman, MTN Nigeria.

“We remained committed to creating and delivering shared value for our stakeholders and grew our other headline numbers as we continued to implement our ambitious growth strategy. Our mobile subscribers increased by 10.5% to 75.6 million, and active data subscribers increased by 15.3% to 39.5 million. Profit before tax grew by 22.3% to N534.0 billion. The total dividend for the year is N15.60 per share and the final dividend of N10 per share,” Karl Toriola, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria added. 

MTN Nigeria remains committed to consistently generating value for our shareholders while supporting the government and communities where we operate.

– Toriola

The first close of $70,000,000 is almost the equivalent of the TIDE Africa Fund raised by TLcom Capital, its first fund used to achieve its first close in 2017 and final close in February 2020.

The second fund, projected to be the largest fundraising yet for the two-decade-old firm, which has $350,000,000 AUM across Africa and Europe with offices in Lagos, Nairobi and London, is expected to reach a second close later this year. It will also position the investor to become one of the largest independent VC firms fully dedicated to the continent.

Following TLcom Capital’s $71,000,000 TIDE Africa Fund raised in 2020, invested in 12 African startups; seed to Series B stages, the firm was only able to invest in 11 startups including Andela, Ajua, Autochek, Ilara Health, Kobo360, Okra, Pula, Shara, Terragon Group, Twiga and uLesson.

TLcom Capital’s average investment per startup is around $6, 000,000; but this number varies according to investments made in its portfolio companies. Andela’s $40 million Series C was TLCom’s first African investment. This was way before its first fund closed in 2020, and is the latest stage at which TLcom invested; Twiga’s $20 million Series B in 2019 is another.

Imminently, TLCom Capital targets adding an extra 20 early-stage startups to its portfolio, with investments ranging from $500,000 to $15,000,000.

The firm will most likely tailor its fund structure like its first: part of the capital for early-stage startups, while the rest will be for new or follow-on rounds of companies at growth and late stage. Its first check from the second fund was a lead investment in SeamlessHR.

So far, the 12 companies invested in by TLcom Capital are based in Nigeria or Kenya. The Venture Capitalist firm will expand focus to Egypt while making more investments across East and West Africa, with the new fund.

TLCom Capital focuses on sectors such as the fintech, mobility, agriculture, healthcare, education and e-commerce sectors, but is willing to invest in startups venturing into web3, crypto and DeFi, as well as newer industries which include African startups playing in the same field as other regions.